Education Week August 29, 2012 - A Special Report on E-Learning - S3

Schools Open Doors to New E-Learning Rules, Ideas

EDUCATION WEEK AUGUST 29, 2012 > www.edweek.org/go/elearning-rules
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New Laws, Programs Expand K-12 Online-Learning Options
Several states now require districts to give students more choices

By Michelle R. Davis
awmakers in Utah recently mandated that school districts allow high school students to take online courses from state-approved providers. In Florida, large districts must give students online-course options from at least three different providers. Recent legislation in Georgia altered the funding structure for students who take virtual courses; the action provides an incentive for districts to encourage students to try online classes. In recent years, several states have enacted laws that require more choices for students who want to try taking courses online, outside the offerings of brick-and-mortar school districts. In some cases, such legislation—as in Florida and Utah—is a companion to requirements that students take at least one online course before graduating from high school. The new reality of such requirements, however, means that districts are often facing a significant change in the way they provide options to students. In some places, the legislation has even introduced a level of competition among providers—which sometimes are the districts themselves—in an effort to boost the quality of offerings. At times, the measures have spawned new methods of cooperation and collaboration. “States are starting to recognize there are a variety of ways that online courses can be provided, and there’s a desire to make sure students can access those,” said Matthew Wicks, the chief operating officer for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or inacol, in Vienna, Va. “There’s now a very strong motivation to provide choice options, which is certainly very different from the dominant way things are currently set up.” Utah state lawmakers adopted legislation in 2011 mandating that high school students be permitted to take individual online courses from any local education agency in the state, said Sean Thomas, an audit and finance specialist for the state office of education. But it’s up to students and their parents to seek out the options and request a course. “This bill really put the control in the hands of the parents and the students to go to their district or charter school and say, ‘I want to take courses in this online program,’ ” Mr. Thomas said. The state pays a fee, which varies based on the type of course, to the provider; the average onecredit course is $549, said Cory Kanth, a statewide online education program specialist for the Utah education department. The fee spurred many districts to seek out ways to keep their students in-house, Ms. Kanth said, and since the law’s enactment, some districts have formed consortia in an effort to attract students seeking online courses. “A really positive outcome of this law is that, as a result, districts are developing their own programs, giving students a lot more options,” she said. That’s what happened in the 66,000-student Davis school district in Farmington, Utah. The district formed a coalition with seven other districts to provide online education to students, said Sue Winkler, the district’s online schools administrator, who also oversees the Utah Students Connect consortium. “When the law came through, there was a group [of districts] that got together to figure out how to use what we already had,” she said. “We realized we already had great teachers and great curricula here.” Through the consortium, each district contributes teachers, time, and curricula, and no money changes hands for services. The contributions are based on a percentage of students from each district using the consortium’s resources. The consortium has only been around for one school year, but so far has worked well, according to Ms. Winkler, who pointed out that it has had an added benefit: the collaboration with educators from other districts. During the 2011-12 school year, 1,300 students took courses through the consortium. Only eight students went outside the consortium to seek out other online-course providers. “So really, [the consortium] is doing what was intended,” Ms. Winkler said.

FLORIDA’S GROWING OPTIONS
Florida in the past few years has passed numerous laws boosting online learning, including a requirement that students take at least one online course before graduation; over time, state lawmakers have made it easier to do just that. In addition to opening the door for the state’s largest virtual school, the Florida Virtual School, to provide online courses to students in elementary through high school, the state has forbidden dis-

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Education Week August 29, 2012 - A Special Report on E-Learning

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